Somehow, not surprised to hear this. And I've seen that sort of thing with a lot of young male actors. They're good looking and asked to play good looking young guys, and they come across as bland. Then they approach middle-age and, if lucky, get a more nuanced character to play and suddenly you wonder how you hadn't seen them before. Not sure Richardson ever got that role, though.
What was the last movie you saw?
- Thread starter Tabitha
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It's common practice for people carrying a lot of grief or fear for them to be encouraged to try to personalise and then "make friends" with their inexpressible emotion. My novel Tommy Catkins shows one of the possible consequences of this strategy.
Jeffbert
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IRMA LA DOUCE (1963) Newly assigned to this district, French police officer Nestor Patou (Jack Lemmon) is unaccustomed to the way things are, and ends up embarrassing his superiors, losing his job, etc. Irma la Douce (Shirley MacLaine) is one of many ladies of the night, and expects the police to take bribes, and such. Yet, Patou is honest. So, Irma takes pity on the poor guy, and gives him a home, etc. Eventually, he becomes boss of the pimps, & wants her all to himself. So, he invents a new character, Lord X, and disguises himself as such, becomes her sole client, because he pays her so much, and merely plays card games while in that guise. But, eventually, Ptou decides he must eliminate the Lord X character, and ends up arrested for murdering a fictional Lord X!
Not my type of film, but it was rather funny.
Not my type of film, but it was rather funny.
I think sometimes the fault is the character is underwritten. SHE has that problem too. Richardson has nothing important to do. He probably wouldn't leave much impression anyway, but the main characters are Cushing etc. It's a showcase for the women characters in both films.
John Derek is the same way. Vincent Price made a comment that when he was doing The Ten Commandments he had to whip John Derek and he said to an audience -when you are that good-looking you deserve to be whipped.
Jeffbert
Well-Known Member
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WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (1951) A modern twist to Noah's Ark. A South African astronomer sends his findings by courier David Randall (Richard Derr) to an American astronomer for confirmation. Earth is doomed! 
A rogue star Bellus and its planet Zyra will soon collide with Earth, etc., and there are a mere 8, count 'em eight (100[base 2 (sorry, but this forum could not handle the subscript]) months in which to design, build, and deploy spaceships, and send them to the rogue star's planet, hoping life can survive there! The star, which will follow the planet will utterly destroy Earth, but the Earthlings hope that Zyra will be livable. The gravity of Bellus will disrupt life on Earth, floods, earthquakes, etc., will ravish our planet, but not so on Zyra, which will also be affected by gravity from both our Sun as well as its own!?
Elderly millionaire Sydney Stanton (John Hoyt) offers his wealth to finance the project, so long as he gets to choose who else will go. No thanks, says scientist Dr. Cole Hendron (Larry Keating), who expects a random choosing of those who are to live.
As in the story of Noah, the masses are cynical, ridiculing the idea, until it becomes obvious that the end is coming. Realist Stanton warns that these people will storm the facilities, and that they must be repelled by force of arms. Humanist Dr. Hendron is sure people will behave otherwise, believing in the goodness of humanity. Stanton is right, and force of arms are needed.
Of the critters chosen for the space ark, only those useful to humans are selected. No elephants or, as a Pooh called them Hefalumps; no rhinoceros much less the plural, rhinoceri, etc. Of the humans, only young adults, members of the project; people possessing skills, etc. Not even one child is among them, until a little boy is rescued from a rooftop, he, and a small dog, are among the chosen.
Of course there is the romantic element, in which Dr. Cole's daughter's love is sought by both the courier David Randall and physician Tony Drake (Peter Hansen), whose skills will be needed on the new world; while Randall assumes his own will not.
Always fun to watch!
A rogue star Bellus and its planet Zyra will soon collide with Earth, etc., and there are a mere 8, count 'em eight (100[base 2 (sorry, but this forum could not handle the subscript]) months in which to design, build, and deploy spaceships, and send them to the rogue star's planet, hoping life can survive there! The star, which will follow the planet will utterly destroy Earth, but the Earthlings hope that Zyra will be livable. The gravity of Bellus will disrupt life on Earth, floods, earthquakes, etc., will ravish our planet, but not so on Zyra, which will also be affected by gravity from both our Sun as well as its own!? Elderly millionaire Sydney Stanton (John Hoyt) offers his wealth to finance the project, so long as he gets to choose who else will go. No thanks, says scientist Dr. Cole Hendron (Larry Keating), who expects a random choosing of those who are to live.
As in the story of Noah, the masses are cynical, ridiculing the idea, until it becomes obvious that the end is coming. Realist Stanton warns that these people will storm the facilities, and that they must be repelled by force of arms. Humanist Dr. Hendron is sure people will behave otherwise, believing in the goodness of humanity. Stanton is right, and force of arms are needed.
Of the critters chosen for the space ark, only those useful to humans are selected. No elephants or, as a Pooh called them Hefalumps; no rhinoceros much less the plural, rhinoceri, etc. Of the humans, only young adults, members of the project; people possessing skills, etc. Not even one child is among them, until a little boy is rescued from a rooftop, he, and a small dog, are among the chosen.
Of course there is the romantic element, in which Dr. Cole's daughter's love is sought by both the courier David Randall and physician Tony Drake (Peter Hansen), whose skills will be needed on the new world; while Randall assumes his own will not.
Always fun to watch!
John Hoyt is funny when he finds the leg strength to get out of the wheel chair.
Elderly millionaire Sydney Stanton (John Hoyt) offers his wealth to finance the project, so long as he gets to choose who else will go.
'I can walk! Just get me into the rocket!"
JunkMonkey
Lord High Vizier of Nowt
Project 'Gemini' (2022 Original title: Zvyozdniy razum) - released this year and already in the '3 for a quid' bin at my local charity shop. And understandably so.
It. Is. Terrible.
After a few minutes of THE most dreadful "The Earth is doomed because a killer virus is destroying all life on earth and we're all doomed because we're all doomed... and stuff" voiceover expositionising we get yet another bunch of expositioning from some REALLY BORING, PERSONALITY FREE, SCIENCE GUY who tells a bunch of other science types (they're all wearing white coats) and military people types (they're all wearing jumpsuits with patches) that the alien sphereish dingus thingiemebob they'd discovered in a cave, and have been working on for years, holds the hope for all mankind because it's a superdooper spacewarper and a "creating life where there was none before" dingus and it's been sitting in this cave for 4 million years and was probably how life started on Earth....
(Hands up if you just worked out the rest of the movie's plot... Yup. I thought so. )
...Anyhow... a robotic probe test flight to another star system has found a suitable test planet and off they jolly well go - Why he telling these people this is a really good question because they already know this stuff and the audience is suffering from serious infodump overload. Five minutes of solid infodumping is hard to sit through.
Opening credits.
Then the first (of many) crashing disappointments. The REALLY BORING, PERSONALITY FREE, SCIENCE GUY turns out to be our HERO!? You're ****ting me! They go through the superdooper spacewarper and don't arrive where they are supposed to. They can't work out where they are but decide to use the Starting Life Sphere Dingus anyway because the planet they have arrived next to is even better for the experiment than the one they were heading for - audience at this point starts throwing things at the screen, and making lewd and derisory comments. (Well my daughter and I did.) Unbeknownst to the crew a bit of the superdooper spacewarper dingus detaches itself and decides it's the alien from Alien. The first manned interstellar mission to an uninhabited planet remembered to pack automatic weapons - and a bomb. The only female member of the crew gets to walk backwards down a dark corridor in her underwear. ("How", asked number 2 daughter, "can you make a girl walking down a goo filed corridor in her underwear sequence boring?") One of the crew members goes wrong and tries to help the alien. Painful mechanically delivered dialogue that sounded like it came from a cheap 1980's anime. It's Alien bookended by a plot straight out of one of those 'unexpected twist ending' comics of the late 50s.
Oh my GOD! It was Earth all along!!!!!!!
Anyway all turns out well in the end because REALLY BORING, PERSONALITY FREE, HERO SCIENCE GUY pulls one of the films many many many unexpected plot rabbits out of his arse and is somehow able to communicate across 4 million years with his INSANELY BORING PERSONALITY FREE (but pregnant - of course!) SCIENCE GUY GIRLFRIEND and give her 'the formula' for destroying the virus. He'd found it in the blood of the crew member who'd been infected by the alien - or something. The writing really was that crappy. People suddenly pull plot miracles out of thin air at every turn. This film generated more "Wait?! What?!" moments than any film I can remember having seen for years.
The final shot is of SCIENCE GUY GIRLFRIEND in her no longer infected by virus but now full of flowering plants greenhouse rocking a pram. A pram with the hood up. Because the film couldn't afford to hire a baby for the day.
It. Is. Terrible.
After a few minutes of THE most dreadful "The Earth is doomed because a killer virus is destroying all life on earth and we're all doomed because we're all doomed... and stuff" voiceover expositionising we get yet another bunch of expositioning from some REALLY BORING, PERSONALITY FREE, SCIENCE GUY who tells a bunch of other science types (they're all wearing white coats) and military people types (they're all wearing jumpsuits with patches) that the alien sphereish dingus thingiemebob they'd discovered in a cave, and have been working on for years, holds the hope for all mankind because it's a superdooper spacewarper and a "creating life where there was none before" dingus and it's been sitting in this cave for 4 million years and was probably how life started on Earth....
(Hands up if you just worked out the rest of the movie's plot... Yup. I thought so. )
...Anyhow... a robotic probe test flight to another star system has found a suitable test planet and off they jolly well go - Why he telling these people this is a really good question because they already know this stuff and the audience is suffering from serious infodump overload. Five minutes of solid infodumping is hard to sit through.
Opening credits.
Then the first (of many) crashing disappointments. The REALLY BORING, PERSONALITY FREE, SCIENCE GUY turns out to be our HERO!? You're ****ting me! They go through the superdooper spacewarper and don't arrive where they are supposed to. They can't work out where they are but decide to use the Starting Life Sphere Dingus anyway because the planet they have arrived next to is even better for the experiment than the one they were heading for - audience at this point starts throwing things at the screen, and making lewd and derisory comments. (Well my daughter and I did.) Unbeknownst to the crew a bit of the superdooper spacewarper dingus detaches itself and decides it's the alien from Alien. The first manned interstellar mission to an uninhabited planet remembered to pack automatic weapons - and a bomb. The only female member of the crew gets to walk backwards down a dark corridor in her underwear. ("How", asked number 2 daughter, "can you make a girl walking down a goo filed corridor in her underwear sequence boring?") One of the crew members goes wrong and tries to help the alien. Painful mechanically delivered dialogue that sounded like it came from a cheap 1980's anime. It's Alien bookended by a plot straight out of one of those 'unexpected twist ending' comics of the late 50s.
Oh my GOD! It was Earth all along!!!!!!!
Anyway all turns out well in the end because REALLY BORING, PERSONALITY FREE, HERO SCIENCE GUY pulls one of the films many many many unexpected plot rabbits out of his arse and is somehow able to communicate across 4 million years with his INSANELY BORING PERSONALITY FREE (but pregnant - of course!) SCIENCE GUY GIRLFRIEND and give her 'the formula' for destroying the virus. He'd found it in the blood of the crew member who'd been infected by the alien - or something. The writing really was that crappy. People suddenly pull plot miracles out of thin air at every turn. This film generated more "Wait?! What?!" moments than any film I can remember having seen for years.
The final shot is of SCIENCE GUY GIRLFRIEND in her no longer infected by virus but now full of flowering plants greenhouse rocking a pram. A pram with the hood up. Because the film couldn't afford to hire a baby for the day.
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THE VAMPIRE HAPPENING 1971 - an attempt to make a film in the "vein" of the Fearless Vampire Killers (Ferdie Mayne appears as Count "Christopher" Dracula), directed by Freddie Francis. It boasts real castles and some picturesque cinematography and a nice soundtrack but is bad comedy--more of a softcore vampire porno.
dask
dark and stormy knight
Mystery thriller about murder and a jade necklace….I think. May be harder to follow than The Big Sleep but confusion adds to the charm in film noir. If all else there’s always the forties gals to stare at
alexvss
Me doesn't knows no grammar.
Bullet Train (2022). A comedy action-thriller with an ensemble cast. For the most of it, the comedy doesn't work.
smellincoffee
Browncoat in Good Standing
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2022
- Messages
- 35
My girlfriend and I watched West Side Story. It's a favorite of mine, but she hated it. Suffice it to say, she's not on board for watching the new one.
JunkMonkey
Lord High Vizier of Nowt
It's our default setting. We tried. Really really hard. The trouble is, that to do that successfully, the material has to be 'not boring'. Bad is one thing. Clichéd, derivative clumsy, overambitious... all of those are things you can work with and mine for gags. But monotonously dull? Hard to find laughs in something so tediously flat. Mind you, we did get to the end of it - which is more than we did for Battle Star Wars the other week.
Guttersnipe
mortal ally
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (2022): A fantasy thriller about an escaped mental patient who can possess people. A stripper shelters her and exploits her for money. Lots of EDM, which isn't my thing. It was kind of trashy, but the concept wasn't bad. Tolerable, not great.
Jeffbert
Well-Known Member
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- Dec 23, 2011
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- 1,904
KWAIDAN (1965) Another set of 4 stories; this time a Japanese supernatural one. Only one name I recognized: Takashi Shimura. Over 3 hours, Quite interesting, especially the costumes.
See my avatar. I saw this in the cinema when it came out and it became one of my favourite films. I joined the kickstarter the director pitched and bought two of the pop-up books. Absolutely beautiful.
VIRGIN WITCH 1972 -- Seemed to be a softcore porno done by a Shakespearean road company. There was a couple of creepy visuals but otherwise rather tepid. The most unusual thing was the hero of the story (if he can be called that) has a car with the steering wheel on the left side and yet he is driving around Surrey England in it.
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2007
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- 5,812
Rosemary's Baby
Think I've seen this before, but many years ago. Much longer than I remember it being, and what appears to be plenty of imagery, most of which goes over my head or I didn't notice. The tension is so beautifully balanced, and the ending (often one of the most difficult parts of a horror movie to get right) has a great twist (arguably two twists). Mia Farrow is superb as the pregnant wife desperate to protect her unborn child, but Ruth Gordon steals the show as the interfering neighbour.
I'd rank this in the best 5 horror movies of all time.
Think I've seen this before, but many years ago. Much longer than I remember it being, and what appears to be plenty of imagery, most of which goes over my head or I didn't notice. The tension is so beautifully balanced, and the ending (often one of the most difficult parts of a horror movie to get right) has a great twist (arguably two twists). Mia Farrow is superb as the pregnant wife desperate to protect her unborn child, but Ruth Gordon steals the show as the interfering neighbour.
I'd rank this in the best 5 horror movies of all time.
Jeffbert
Well-Known Member
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- Dec 23, 2011
- Messages
- 1,904
I LOVE TROUBLE (1948) NOIR ALLEY, & I had forgotten it, until looking for things I could delete from the DVR, when I realized I had not watched it.
PI Stuart Bailey (Franchot Tone) is hired to find a man's wife, who had gone missing. The Man wants to know about her background. Another good noir I have no memory of having seen before! So, in the process of investigating the woman's past, the usual tough guys give him the trouble noted by the title.
Muller noted that this was made from the mold Raymond Chandler made, & that he had contemplated suing, but did not follow-through.
Not happy about the lack of captions, though!
PI Stuart Bailey (Franchot Tone) is hired to find a man's wife, who had gone missing. The Man wants to know about her background. Another good noir I have no memory of having seen before!
So, in the process of investigating the woman's past, the usual tough guys give him the trouble noted by the title.Muller noted that this was made from the mold Raymond Chandler made, & that he had contemplated suing, but did not follow-through.
Not happy about the lack of captions, though!
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